The Power of Friendship
by Awesome Rapidash
Summary: It starts as just another weekend of fun for Christy, Tom, Ness, and Paula. However, after accepting a dare, Christy's life is about to be turned upside down! Takes place in an AU Earthbound world. Please read and review!


Disclaimer: We do not own anything in the Earthbound series.

**AN: This story is a joint project between two authors, Awesome Rapidash and Peach the Hedgehog. This is an AU story as well as a dual author insert.**

**This chapter was written by Peach the Hedgehog, with edits from Awesome Rapidash.**

**_Chapter 1: _****_A Sleepover Gone Wrong_**

It was another typical day at school. It was the final period of the day, which was English class for four friends, Ness, Paula, Tom and Christy. Tom and Ness sat with bored expressions on their faces, while Paula and Christy looked eager to learn.

Despite the eagerness on Christy's face, she wasn't the best student in the world. She just liked English class. She claimed that it was very helpful to her. As for Tom, he preferred math and science class, which Christy wasn't the best at.

While still listening, the brunette passed a note to her blonde friend, wondering if their slumber party was still on. They had been planning it for a long time, but another friend, named Kumatora, had gotten a fever, so she was worried about her. Paula smiled and wrote a letter to Christy explaining that everything was okay.

Ness and Tom, on the other hand, were talking to each other in whispers. They had already been caught talking in class, so they were being as careful as they could. Every now and then, the two boys kept looking at the clock, hoping that school would end soon.

Finally, the school bell rang, announcing the end of school at last! The kids gathered their belongings, and headed out to the hallway. Tom smiled when he saw the two girls, glanced toward Ness briefly, and then waved them over.

"Hey, Christy! Paula! We're over here!" the brown haired young man shouted.

"We're coming!" Christy called back, as the two girls walked toward them.

"Wow, that class was so boring!" Tom commented. "Ms. Jackson can go on for hours!"

Ness nodded in agreement, and stared at the other boy. Tom smiled, looking at his black haired friend. "Boring!" the two boys said simultaneously.

The brunette placed her hands on her hips. "Hey, I thought what she had to say was really informative! I want to be a author, after all!"

"Well, I do like English class, but you do have to admit she can go on and on," Paula murmured, trying to word what she was trying to say carefully.

The three friends looked at the brown haired girl, who appeared thoughtful. "Well… you do have a point. I still think it's informative."

"Yeah, so you say," Tom said with a grin. "Now Math and Science… that is interesting!"

Paula and Christy both shook their heads. "I have to disagree," the brunette murmured. "I get easily confused."

"Come on!" Ness pulled a red baseball cap from his backpack, and placed it on his head. "School's out and it's Friday! Let's get out of here!"

His three friends nodded in agreement, and without even thinking about it, the four friends paired off in groups of two. Ness walked next to Paula, and Christy stayed by Tom's side.

The brown haired girl tried to stop herself from blushing as she looked in Paula's direction. "I can't wait for tonight!" she said without thinking.

"Me too!" the blonde agreed. "And don't worry, Christy! Kumatora will be there!"

Before Christy could express her relief, she noticed Tom's curious expression. "What's going on tonight?"

"If you must know, we're having a sleepover party at Paula's house," Christy explained. "It's girls only."

The brown haired boy smiled in understanding. "Don't worry, Christy. I have no intention of coming to an all girl sleepover."

The boy wearing the baseball cap just smiled. "Speak for yourself. Well, have fun I guess!"

"Thank you, Ness." Paula turned to Christy and smiled. "And, don't worry about Kumatora, Christy. She'll be there. I promise."

* * *

Later that day, the sun was beginning to set, putting pretty pink and orange colors in the sky. Christy walked up to the front door of Paula's house, carrying a duffel bag on her right shoulder. The girl tried not to shiver, as it started to get a little colder out, as she knocked on the front door.

The door slowly opened, and Christy smiled at the blonde haired man who answered the door. "Hello, Mr. Polestar!"

"Hello there, Christy," Paula's father greeted. "Paula is up in her room, and Kumatora is there as well."

The brunette thanked the man in front of her and walked off to Paula's room. The door was open and she took a peek inside, wondering how Kumatora looked. She let out a sigh of relief when she noticed that the redhead didn't look sick at all.

It's not that Christy didn't know her friends' secret. She knew that most of her friends, minus a couple of them, had PSI powers. But, what she didn't know was what happened to the body when a new PSI was being unlocked.

Kumatora smiled when she saw Christy's face and beckoned her inside. "Come on. Do you think a fever would stop me from coming? It was nothing to worry about!"

"I see," Christy agreed with a smile and a nod of her head. "I was just worried, that's all," she added as she walked into the room, closed the door, and dropped the duffel bag on the carpeted floor.

Paula smiled. "I understand that." She then looked between her two friends. "So, ladies, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Well, I was thinking we could tell some scary stories," Kumatora suggested. When the redhead noticed that none of her friends seemed thrilled with the idea, she added, "Or we could play a game of Truth or Dare."

"That sounds like fun!" Paula agreed. "Let's do that!"

The brunette was about to agree, but Kumatora looked directly in her friend's brown eyes. "Now, Christy. You can't say truth all the time!"

Christy glanced down nervously. "But… I… I really don't want to be forced into anything bad…"

"Come on, lighten up!" the red haired girl remarked, keeping her eyes on her friend. "We're your friends! We won't make you do anything that bad!"

"Exactly!" Paula agreed. "You don't have anything to worry about! In fact, you can go first if you like!"

Christy smiled back gratefully at the blonde haired girl's gesture. "Okay. So, I'm first? Then… Paula! Truth or dare?"

Paula went silent for a moment, as if she was trying to think. "Truth," she said at last.

The brunette smiled slyly at her friend's choice. "Truth, huh? Okay then. So, Paula, have you ever kissed a boy before? Like Ness?"

The blonde haired girl blushed brightly, unable to hold it back. "Well… uh… yes… But, it was just a peck on the cheek!"

Christy and Kumatora smiled to each other. Neither one was surprised by the blonde's response. They both guessed that their friend really liked Ness, but she would never admit it.

Paula was still blushing, but quickly turned back to Christy. She was hoping that if she went fast, her two friends would stop teasing her. "Okay, Christy! Truth or dare?"

"Well… uh… dare," the brunette murmured nervously.

Kumatora smiled and patted Christy on the back. "Good for you! You didn't say truth this time!"

The blonde haired Paula nodded in agreement. "Alright. I have the perfect dare!" She smiled as she got to her feet and left the room as quickly as she could. When she returned, she was holding onto a package of vanilla ice cream and a spoon. "I dare you to eat as much ice cream as you can in one minute!"

The brunette tried to look determined as she was handed the spoon. At least the ice cream was her favorite flavor. As quickly as she could, she put spoonful after spoonful into her mouth. One minute felt like an eternity and a bit before then, Christy could feel brain freeze coming on. When her time was up, Christy was moaning and rubbing her head.

Paula and Kumatora giggled at their friend, as the blonde moved over and wiped the ice cream off of Christy's mouth. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Kumatora didn't say a word, but continued to laugh as hard as she could.

"Stop laughing!" Christy cried, but smiled a little. "Kuma," she briefly paused after calling Kumatora by the nickname she usually called her by. "Truth or dare?"

"Are you kidding? Dare of course!"

Christy grinned slightly despite the pain in her head. "That's just like you, Kuma! You never say truth! Then, I dare you to chug as much milk as you can!"

"Too easy!" the redhead boasted.

Paula smiled as she left the room again and came back with a jug of milk. Kumatora quickly took the drink from the blonde's hands, put it to her lips, and drank as quickly as she could. But it soon got the better of the red haired girl, and she choked, causing milk to come out of her mouth and nose! Paula and Christy got into giggle fits, while Kumatora looked like it was no big deal.

"Are you okay, Kuma?" Christy asked, trying to control her laughter.

"I'll be fine," Kumatora reassured. "It's no problem! Now, right back at you, Christy! Truth or dare?"

This went on for what felt like a long time. But, Christy had to admit; she was having fun taking these dares. She did get worried every now and then, but she still enjoyed herself. Her favorite dare was drinking a soda while standing on her head. Of course, the brunette had to have support from the wall, but it was still done. It was embarrassing when she finally went right side up, and she burped loudly, but that was better than having brain freeze.

The game was also very informative about who the girls were in love with. Christy admitted to having a crush on Tom, and Kumatora, who had surprised them about choosing truth once, admitted to having a tiny crush on Lucas, but she took the long way around to say so.

Finally, it was Kumatora's turn again, and she once again turned her attention to Christy. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Christy said automatically, but she regretted it when she saw the look in the red head's eyes.

The next thing the brunette knew, she was pulled to the side. Kumatora whispered to Paula, who giggled when she understood what she wanted Christy to do. First of all, they worked together to dye Christy's hair, which took hours to do. Once they were done with that, they dressed Christy up in one of Paula's pink dresses, her red shoes, and Paula put two red ribbons in the girl's hair.

When they were finally done, Christy ran to the mirror. She was absolutely stunned when she saw her reflection. "Whoa! I… I look like Paula!" she gasped. She noticed that there was a small difference though. Her eye color was different than Paula's. The brown eyed girl looked to the two girls who gave her this makeover. "Um… why did you do this?"

"Because, you are going to go to Ness' house," Paula explained, remembered what Kumatora told her earlier. "You're going to see if you can fool him in pretending to be me!"

"What?!" Christy exclaimed horrified. She was about to reach for the ribbons in her hair when Kumatora spoke up.

"You chose dare. You can't back out now!"

A look of defeat crossed Christy's face. "Okay, okay," she said slowly. She started to walk out of Paula's room, hoping that she wouldn't bump into Paula's father, and headed out into the night air.

"I should have said truth this time," the girl who used to have brown hair grumbled as she shivered in the night. She turned in her steps toward Ness' house. She figured she may as well get it over with.

But, little did she know that two people were watching her closely, hidden in the shadows. They smiled to themselves, thinking that their jobs had just gotten easier. They didn't believe it was going to be this easy, but they didn't care.

The men moved silently toward the girl, one of them carefully holding onto a piece of sticky tape. When they got close enough, one of them grabbed Christy's arms, while the other quickly placed the tape over her mouth to prevent her from screaming out!

The girl's brown eyes widened in horror as her cries for help were muffled. She struggled as hard as she could, trying to break free, causing her captors to laugh at her.

"Struggle all you want, you won't break free," one of the men sneered. Together with the other man, they tied the girl's arms behind her back, and bound her legs together with a strong piece of rope. Then they loaded her into a small truck, closing the doors on her.

Despite what she had been told, Christy continued to struggle and squirm, but it didn't do her any good. She couldn't help groaning, as she felt the cords of the rope biting into wrists and ankles. Fear shimmered in her brown eyes. Who were these men? Where were they taking her?

Her imaginative mind came up with all sorts of reasons for this. She felt her stomach churning, and she tried to shove those thoughts to the side. But, it was clear that she was still very afraid.

Whether it was sooner, or later, Christy was going to find out the answers to her questions and so much more. Whether or not she really wanted to know.

_Thank you for reading all the way to the end of the chapter. We hope you enjoyed our story so far! We'd love to hear what you think, please leave your comments and feedback in a review. Ja ne! _


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